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Water Trust Fund Services Chief Executive Officer Willis Mbai has lost his cool and is now blaming senior people in President William Ruto’s administration whom he claims want him out of office.
This is after news surfaced that he bribed Lands Cabinet Secretary Alice Wahome Sh10 milion to land his job at the expense of other qualified and more deserving individuals.
It has now been established that Ombai has also told his close allies that even head of Public Service Felix Koskei extorted him millions of shillings before dealing with Wahome.
His close allies now claim that Mbai has for the past two weeks warned his staff against sharing any information with the media lest they face his wrath.
Ombai is now seeking the help President Ruto and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga to secure his imminent from the sack.
Ombai has held several meetings with people allied to the ruling Kenya Kwanza coalition and Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) to secure a meeting where he can secure an extended tenure at the fund which is battling a myriad of corruption allegations.
Ombai who is battling various corruption allegations at the trust fund reportedly secured his job after mobilising funds from individuals targeting multi-million tender deals at the agency.
The happenings at the Trust Fund have already attracted the attention of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission which is set to initiate various investigations related to tendering processes at the state agency.
The Water Sector Trust Fund (WaterFund) is a Kenyan State Corporation under the Ministry of Water, Sanitation and Irrigation and established under the Water Act, 2016, with the mandate to provide conditional and unconditional grants to the Counties and to assist in financing the development of and management of water and sanitation services in the marginalised and underserved areas.
It is however feared that the Waterfund has become a conduit for cartels within the Water Ministry,county water bodies and numerous sanitation agencies to fleece donor funds and taxpayers’ money.
The spotlight has been on the CEO who has allegedly established proxy companies, a caretl ring for receiving kickbacks from tender bidders at the waterfund.
A junior officer who spoke to the writer on request of anonymity said the CEO receives at least 10 percent of money paid to contractors and suppliers while shortlisted bidders have to part with a handsome amount as a way of lobbying.
The CEO was recently linked to a scheme to siphon over Sh37 million as captured in the audit report for the 2021/2022 Financial Year.
The fund was accused of deliberately disbursing an additional Ksh 37,182,159 to Noltuesh Water under the CLSG programme,with a questionable Kshs 5,467,479 uncounted for.
Another audit query for FY2021/2022 raised questions on Ksh 24,650,000 paid to Amatsi Water Services Company Limited despite pending investigations on Ksh 26,659,23E advanced to them in FY2020/2021.
At the same time, Ombai is also facing accusations of intimidating workers and negotiating for lucrative kickbacks from bidders targeting World Bank funded projects.
A parliamentary oversight committee recently raised questions on the importance of the Waterfund which has struggled to critically finance community-level water resource services as part of its core mandate.
Embattled Ombai has even personally escalated wars at Coast Water Works Development Agency by overseeing corruption dealings with the likes of Daniel Mwaringa, Martin Tsuma, Hamid Mbarak, finance officer and sex exploiter Stephen Masai among others.
The massive corruption at CWWDA saw Human Resource Manager Simon Charo Menza interdicted after he was captured on video confessing taking huge amount of money from bidders and those who were seeking employment opportunities.
Ombai has so far acquired massive wealth over a short period of time from corruption dealings.